Absurdity

This weekend has been a crazy one. As a family, we relaxed on Saturday and I did some baking. Yesterday, the girls went to a birthday party and Tom and I enjoyed a couple of hours to talk at Starbucks. That was a real treat. Last night, the girls and I enjoyed making and icing sugar cookies. I have pictures to share later. It was too icy to run outside, so I spent some time on my treadmill. I am finding that I run harder and longer on my treadmill than compared to outside. I think that outside, I am not as sure footed and the surface is harder. This slows me down a bit. I have committed myself to the "Rescue Run" on January 1. Thanks Jen for the encouragement. I have asked Santa a.k.a. Tom, for tennis shoe grippers so that I can run more sure footed when it is icy.

During church yesterday, our pastor informed us of an overnight shooting in Arvada at a ministry center. Two people had been killed. We thought this was crazy, but you know how it goes, it won't happen here. At 12:45 yesterday, as New Life church was getting out, it did. New Life is less than a mile from our house. Any closer and we would have heard the gunshots. Someone opened fire in the parking lot. There were 7,000 people still at the church. So far, three people have died, including the shooter that was shot by a security guard. Absurd. Our whole community is in mourning. A CHURCH is on lockdown. Tom and I sat at Starbucks and tears came to our eyes. Our lovely town. Our town where God is uplifted. Our town that we call home, has been targeted. We realize that we are not as safe as we assumed we were. We realize that our children are affected. Becca had two calls from a neighbor child, telling her to lock her doors. It has yet to be determined if an accomplice is on the loose.

It was so icy on Saturday and we had about three inches of snow. When we got up yesterday, our neighborhood looked like a winter wonderland. The sun was out and it was just gorgeous. I kept thinking about how God washes away our sins and makes them as "white as snow". It was such a contrast to what happened a few hours later. On the news this morning, it said that New Life was sending a special message of love, comfort and peace to the shooters family as they realize that they are also victims. We are all victims in one way or another.

Guess what, it is to snow tonight. About 6 inches expected. Just enough to make everything white again. As "white as snow".